Post Office didn't give tracking, now eBay account is locked

[toews.trendal]

The first handful of items we sold on our account were shipped via a Post Office that did not give us any tracking info and when we go back there they say there is no way to retrieve it.  All we have is a printed receipt of the amounts, no other identifications.  

Ebay has locked our account because we haven't provided tracking for *every* item we have sold.  It's impossible, the PO says they have no way of getting the info.  So were at a stalemate here with thousands of dollars of other items sold and ebay is holding the money.  What can we do?

Note:  This is a different account than the one I am posting this message from

[ckimodog]

@toews.trendal 

Not seeing any sales on this ID.  Why didn't you use Ebay's shipping label feature?  They notify the buyer of shipment, provide a tracking number and will even pick your item up at your home.  Really can't give any advice given the info you've provided.  What were you selling?

[monica-sells]

Is this U.S. based Post Office?

if so, any and all receipts (for postage purchased at the Post Office) have the tracking number printed on them....it is standard operating procedure (if you bought postage with tracking)

If you generated labels, those would be available through the program you printed the labels on.....

if you just handed envelopes/boxes with STAMPS on them, there are no tracking numbers

[brightlightbookseller]

Contact eBay for Business via Facebook or Twitter.  They have more power to help you than the phone support or going back and forth in messages.  I don't know if they can fix this, but they're your best shot probably.  In the future, though, make sure you do get that tracking, it's important for your metrics and ratings.  I find it easiest to purchase labels online (either through eBay or one of the many third-party services) so that you have the tracking number while you still have the package in your hands.

[luckythewinner]

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@toews.trendal wrote:

The first handful of items we sold on our account were shipped via a Post Office that did not give us any tracking info and when we go back there they say there is no way to retrieve it.  All we have is a printed receipt of the amounts, no other identifications.  

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If the receipt is from a US post office and there is no tracking information on the receipt, then you must not have used a service that provided tracking. 

[pcobra93 · Accepted solution]

Did you send Priority or First Class? If Priority, the tracking will be on the USPS receipt. If First class and not as a package then there is no tracking. This has been an issue for some time with people that ship i envelopes. You could correct the problem by sending another package with anything or nothing in it to each customer and get a tracking number....upload it to each transaction and when it gets "delivered" it will be the same as if you had tracking originally. There may be other work arounds but that is what i would do if they were holding my money hostage due to "no tracking".....

[toews.trendal]

@monica-sells I believe your last line is what happened.  I'm actually helping a friend here and neither of us have every sold anything before on eBay so probably doing everything wrong but gotta learn somehow.

I think prepaid boxes were purchased at Office Max or something and just taken to the local Post Office which aint much, it's out in the country, really small place.  The receipt is literally nothing other than a standard credit card payment receipt with line items with amounts, no other data.  

It's in the US, yes.

[toews.trendal]

Yeah, I mentioned the items were sold on a different account, I'm helping a friend here.

[toews.trendal]

I hadn't thought of that idea, that might work if nothing else does.  I guess part of the confusion is it has taken a week of back and forth just to figure out this much, that there is tracking info missing from the first sold items and that is what has eBay all cranked up.

[buyselljack2016]

Little "country" office (manual office) that has no Point Of Sale terminal would indeed have no printed receipt with tracking, but if the items sent were "packages" a tracking # sticker would have been applied to each, and a "customer copy" of each of those should have been provided. 

The info could actually be extracted from USPS internal documentation, but not likely that it will happen.

Given the day/time  (you have CC receipt) , and knowing what zips those items were sent to it is possible to get that data.  I truly believe that USPS has it recorded someplace. If the items were "packages" that tracking # sticker would have been scanned (should have been scanned) when they were sent.  It would be amongst the data for that office someplace in the USPS intranet. There should be a record of every inbound scan, and every outbound scan for that office.

[pcobra93]

Did the buyers leave feedback? i thought that once they left feedback, the tracking issue with holds on funds went away but so many changes every day make it difficult to keep up. You could message them and explain the situation also. If they still had the boxes with the label, they could message you the tracking number on it.

[joliztoyco]

Many of you have no idea of what you're talking about.
Our P.O. has a roll of Tracking #'s. They peel one off and affix it to your package. It has a UPC code and tracking # on it. They tear the remainder off which has the tracking # along the bottom and on the reverse they stamp it with the PO, Date, and USPS. My PO workers write the name of the recipient on the back ( because they know how exacting I am about keeping records) and hand it to me. Once they weigh and price it, they tell me the charge and I write it next to the name. If I am shipping multiple packages, we do it to all of them. When we're done, the add up all the charges with a calculator and tell me the total. I insert my card, pay it all, and get a simple receipt that displays the PO & Address, Date, Time, Term & Clerk ID # and the total.
Says NOTHING about tracking or Zip codes. 
When I go to bigger towns, their PO's have the technology you're describing.
Not all Post Offices are "equal".

[nobody*s_perfect]

OK, we understand that some PO's are still operating like it's 1999. 

But let's go back to the question asked at the very beginning of the very first reply: "Why didn't you use Ebay's shipping label feature?"  Sellers in those quaint locations can save a lot of money and effort by purchasing their postage online.  Those labels will automatically include a tracking number. Sounds like you and the friend need to read up on how eBay works.

[glyph01]

Moving forward, you’ll definitely have to buy postage online to get the tracking number and drop off the packages which is another can of worms as you ideally want the packages “Acceptance” scanned by the postal clerk at drop off, individually or by additionally generating a Scan Form. USPS Scan Form procedures for their delivery and retail employees.

In the meantime, observe eBay’s policies for Transaction holds. If the issue is account being suspended, contact eBay for business at Facebook for assistance, to explain how you shipped your packages and why you weren’t given tracking numbers (ie. PO lacked the facilities to issue tracking numbers, rural PO). Seems like you’ll have to wait 14 to 30 days as discussed in their policies, perhaps even longer longer (180 days?) for the funds to be released due to the high value and let eBay know that ya’ll are new to selling and haven’t got the process down pat yet and plan on getting tracking numbers from now on. Hopefully, that will convince them to at least reinstate your account while still holding the funds to cover customer complaints from these shipments.

[12345jamesstamps]

Using the USPS will have tracking if you paid to have tracking. It sounds like you sold expensive stuff and didn't use any sort of anything with tracking. Sorry, but I never heard of no tracking for anything like a package mailed from the USPS, Fed Ex, UPS and so on.

Or you haven't sold for a while...30 days...and eBay is holding your funds thus far. Hard to say what is going on the "other account" when no one can see it.